The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus, and more particularly, to means for operating an endoscope apparatus.
In general, an endoscope should exhibit the following characteristics: it should have a bendable insertion portion, it should be capable of feeding air and water to the coelom and it should be capable of suctioning coeliac fluid. These functions are effected manually and/or electrically by operating control members such as knobs and/or buttons provided on an operating portion of the endoscope located at the proximal end thereof. In presently used mechanisms for operating endoscopes, the control members are provided on the operating portion of the endoscope in a concentrated manner. The concentrated arrangement of the operating members, however, has many disadvantages.
By way of example, when two observers, one an instructor such as a physician and the other a person to be instructed such as an intern, observe a display scope mounted on the endoscope with the physician standing on the operator side (the holder side) of the endoscope and the intern standing on the display side of the endoscope, the intern cannot easily relate the instruction he is being given to the control operations of the endoscope because he is unable to operate the endoscope from the instructed side of the endoscope. When the intern stands on the operator side and the physician stands on the display side, the physician cannot observe the intern's operation of the control knobs and therefore the intern always has some apprehensions that he will operate the endoscope improperly. In either case, the instruction does not go smoothly.
Some endoscopes have an arrangement in which a plurality of persons can simultaneously observe an image to be observed by mounting a television set on an eyepiece portion of the endoscope. In this case, since the operating portion and its associated elements are heavy, they are conventionally suspended from the ceiling, resulting in difficulty in operation.